proxy forces

Royalist and republican, Khalqi and Parchami, Soviet Union and the West, communist and Islamist, mujahid and Talib, Hanafi and takfiri, al Qaeda and America, warlord and technocrat, Pashtun and non-Pashtun, Islamic Emirate and Islamic State, KGB, ISI, and CIA – all have for decades carried on an uninterrupted struggle in Afghanistan. Attempts to end the war have but established new antagonisms, new conditions of conflict, new forms of warfare. The conflict generates these antagonisms rather than the reverse, forcing us to face the real origins of violence: Afghanistan’s relations to the state system from which it emerged. These theses delineate the ever-changing conflict’s constant causes, which any effort at peacemaking in Afghanistan must address.

Join the Almost Diplomatic crew to discuss geopolitics, national security and nonsense over a couple beers. Episode Nine has us discussing the competition for regional hegemony in the Middle East between Iran and Saudi Arabia. We talk about purges, missiles and proxy forces, all the fun things. Follow us on Twitter: @AlmostDiplo Disclaimer: The comments […]